The present article scrutinizes "the unique American vision of childhood" (UAVC) as a phenomenon undermining high academic expectations and good work ethics, and in turn, contributing to the generally low academic achievement of U.S. students compared to their counterparts in other advanced countries. It starts with a definition of UAVC,…

Students in Basic schools in Ghana manifest diverse learning needs, which require innovative approaches to enable them to succeed in learning activities. The paper is part of a larger study conducted in Ghana, which used a range of data collecting methods including questionnaires, interviews with teachers and focus groups of below average…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Waiting Game Continues for FY 2011 Appropriations: Short-Term Spending Measure Averts Government Shutdown, Postpones…

With the release of Ohio's state test score data each August, one recurring question is how well have the state's large sector of charter schools performed relative to their counterparts in traditional districts? The Thomas B. Fordham Institute commissioned Public Impact to conduct an analysis of the 2009-10 data in this report. Using public…

The purpose of this study is to determine how the leadership practices and guiding values of a professional learning community affect the nature of the professional relationships among teachers. For purposes of this study, professional relationships are defined as the purposeful interactions, communications, and connections between teachers…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion on how to increase lower educated workers' participation in training programs inside and outside the workplace through stimulating intentions with respect to training. Design/methodology/approach: This article is based on data from the Study on Life Long Learning and Employment…

This article contributes new evidence on factors associated with low achievement among pupils in urban informal neighborhoods in Nairobi, Kenya. The authors use three different data sets to examine the effect of residence in particular neighborhoods, pupil gender, primary school type, and household socioeconomic status on pupil achievement in the…

The authors used a large sample of children (N [is approximately equal to] 7,400) participating in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to estimate kindergarten children's academic achievement growth trajectories in reading and mathematics. The authors were particularly interested in whether the growth trajectories…

In August 2009, the U.S. Department of Education announced opportunities for states and local educational agencies to vie for $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement Grants targeted at turning around or closing down chronically low-achieving schools. To qualify for a portion of these funds, school districts were required to implement one of…

This report describes a follow-up qualitative study, conducted in 2006 by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, of a small group of New York City high schools that were "beating the odds" in preparing low-performing 9th-grade students for timely high school graduation and college going. The 13 schools included two long-established…

The purpose of this study was to examine conceptual change among future elementary school teachers while studying a scientific text concerning photosynthesis. Students' learning goals in relation to their learning outcomes were also examined. The participants were future elementary school teachers. The design consisted of pre- and post-tests. The…

This article presents procedures and results from a 2-year project developing science key vocabulary (KV) short tests suitable for progress monitoring Grade 5 science in Texas public schools using computer-generated, -administered, and -scored assessments. KV items included KV definitions and important usages in a multiple-choice cloze format. A…

In large classes, students' feelings of anonymity and interpersonal distance from the instructor can be particularly detrimental to those who struggle with course material. We tested a simple method for connecting with struggling students to improve their performance. We randomly divided students who scored 75% or lower on the first exam into 2…

This paper is methodologically based, addressing the study of mathematics teaching by linking micro- and macro-perspectives. Considering "teaching as activity", it uses "Activity Theory" and, in particular, the "Expanded Mediational Triangle" (EMT) to consider the role of the broader social frame in which classroom…

This paper reviews New Labor priority educational policies since 1997 that have attempted to break the link between poverty and low educational achievement in England. It does so by examining these policy priorities against a mapping framework developed by the author for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Education and Poverty programme. This…